Cora Crane and James's "The Great Condition": A Biblio-Biographical Note

Cora Crane and James's "The Great Condition": A Biblio-Biographical Note by Adeline R. Tintner Recently, much has been made of the association between Henry James and Stephen Crane during the last year of Crane's life in England. Nicholas DelBanco's Group Portrait (1982) followed by Miranda Seymour's A Ring of Conspirators (1989) tended to over-emphasize a relationship that even during that year, from February, 1899, until May, 1900, was sporadic although friendly, as Leon Edel has pointed out (Master 57-68). Therefore, any new factual information regarding Stephen and Cora Crane and Henry James is intriguing to students of both. Within a year, a volume has surfaced which illustrates a curious and hitherto unknown fact in Cora Crane's relationship with James. It is a copy listed in a catalogue of tiie Texas rare book dealer, Kevin McDonnell (Catalogue Five, 1991, No. 129, first edition), which reads as follows: "129. Churchill, Lady Randolph Churchill, The Anglo-Saxon Review, a quarterly magazine, volume 1, June 1899, London; John Lane, 1899." The volume is described as being of "original full green Morocco, elaborately gilt." It is inscribed by Stephen Crane on the front end paper. "Stephen Crane/ Brede Place/ Sussex/ England/ March, 1900." Above this inscription Crane added the note: "The book was given by Henry James to Stephen Crane." Between these two inscriptions, Crane's wife, Cora, added in her own hand some words altering the inscription to read: "The book was given by Henry James to Stephen Crane /and by him to/ Mrs. Stephen Crane/ Brede Place/ Sussex/ England/ March, 1900." McDonnell ends this paragraph by writing, "This is the only surviving book given by Henry James to Stephen Crane." The book was given by James to Stephen Crane (or to Cora, since their handwritings seem to be almost identical, judging from the reproduction in the catalogue) just three months before Stephen's death, according to tiie inscription, because it contained James's story "The Great Condition." One does not know whether Cora Crane wrote in the words "and by him to Mrs. Stephen Crane" before or after Stephen died, but the latter seems more probable. Mr. McDonnell continues the description of the book in his catalogue: The Henry James Review 13 (1992): 192-97 © 1992 by The Johns Hopkins University Press Cora Crane and James 193 "The story James contributed to die present volume is a variation on his stories about a woman with a 'past.' Cora may have sympathized with such a woman. She met Crane while operating a brothel in Jacksonville, Florida, and, at the time of their moving to Brede Place, had not obtained a divorce from her previous husband." The paragraph ends, "Price and fuller description on request." I requested the "fuller description" and by return mail received from the generous Mr. McDonnell a typed summary containing what he knew about the book with the permission "to make use of it anyway you like." But the really startling information given in the summary was that "the leaves containing /James's/ story /The Great Condition/ had been neatly excised!" (McDonnell to A.R.T., 3 December 1991). The reason for this excision given by McDonnell was tiiat James's story was about a woman with a "past" and he quoted from the tale: "about something or other in her life; . . . some beastly episode or accident.... some unlucky page she'd like to tear out. God forgive me, some slip" (CT X, 392). Cora may have identified with such a woman. McDonnell also attributes her tearing the pages from the book after Stephen's death to James's refusal to send her money, although he had been very generous to them both while Stephen was alive. Offended by the story, why did Cora not throw away the entire AngloSaxon Review! It must have been chiefly because of the association she, as well as Stephen, had witii Lady Randolph Churchill, the editor of tiie journal, for the couple had rented Brede Place from Lady Churchill's brother-in-law, Morton Frewen. Also, "tipped to die front side inside cover," writes McDonnell, is "a letter from Lady Churchill... to Stephen Crane regarding his manuscript...